*598 



SCINDE, 



Scinde. 



ing of the river, and the rest of the year is employed 

 in the raising of indigo, sugar-canes, huldee, &c. 

 Land cultivated for gardens and producing fruit trees, 

 pays a tax of 2^ rupees per beegah, and the spring crop 

 of tobacco pays 4^ rupees per beegah. The land 

 revenue on sugar is about 4| rupees per beegah and is 

 drawn in kind. So enormous are the exactions of the 

 government that the sum of all the duties and customs 

 often exceeds the prime cost of the commodities. 

 These duties are farmed to individuals, who are gene- 

 rally removed every year. 



The chief articles of domestic produce exported 

 from this province are rice, glue, hides, shark-fins 

 potash, saltpetre, assafcetida, bdellium, madder, frank- 

 incense, Tatta cloths, horses, indigo, oil of sesamum, 

 mujeet sirshif oil, raisins, almonds, colouring plants, 

 pistachio flowers and nuts, shawls, cloths, mustard, wild 

 saffron, black cummin seed from Kerman, white cum- 

 min seed, and chintzes both from Scinde and Khorasan. 

 A great part of these articles are sent to Bombay. 

 The articles imported into Scinde from Bombay are 

 white sugar, sugar-candy, steel, iron, tin, tutenague, 

 lead, cochineal, betel-nut, black pepper, dried cocoa- 

 nuts, vermillion, red lead, quicksilver, Bengal and 

 China silks and cloths, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, 

 nutmeg, sandal wool, ginger, china ware, pearls, aloes, 

 and amuttas. Scinde imports swords and carpets from 

 Khorasan and Kandahar, silk and other articles from 

 the Persian Gulf, and alum, musk, and horses from 

 Moultan; cotton, snuff, unwrought iron, and the small 

 Arabian aloe from Kutch. The principal traders are 

 the Mooltany merchants settled in Scinde. The East 

 India Company had formerly a factory in Scinde, and 

 carried on a considerable trade, but it was abandoned ; 

 and a subsequent attempt made by the Company of 

 Bombay to renew the trade also failed. 



Since the accession of the present rapacious rulers of 

 Scinde, the trade and agriculture of the province have 

 greatly declined. Being addicted to hunting, they 

 have converted into wastes and jungles, for the preser- 

 vation of their game, extensive tracts of the best land 

 on the banks of the Indus. 



The government is a military despotism, vested in 

 three brothers of the Talpoony (Talpore) family. 

 These ameers belong to the Mahommedan sect of sheeas, 

 but they are very tolerant. The Mahommedan in- 

 habitants compose the army, which consists of forty- 

 two tribes wn6 hold the land by a military tenure, and 

 are obliged when called upon to furnish a certain num- 

 ber of cavalry. By this means the ameer can bring 

 into the field an army of 36,000 irregi-.lar cavalry, who 

 sometimes dismount and fight on foot. 



The revenues of Scinde are now forty-two lacks of 

 rupees, having been formerly eighty lacks during the 

 Calorie government. The principal towns of Scinde 

 are Hyderabad, the capital, and the residence of the 

 ameers, Tatta, Corachie, or Crotchey,* Gugah, and 

 Amercote. 



Hyderabad. Hyderabad, situated in north lat. 25 22', and east 

 long. 68 41' stands on a rocky eminence, the base of 

 which is washed by the Fuloolee branch of the Indus. 

 It is of an irregular hexagonal form, accommodated 

 to the mass of rock on which it is built. It is sur- 

 rounded with a high brick wall, perforated with loop 

 holes, and flanked with round towers. The sides of 

 the hill are in many places so steep, that it would be 

 difficult to ascend even if the walls were breached to 



their foundation. The weakest part is towards the Scinde. 

 south-east, opposite a creek in the Fuloolee, which ap- '"^y*" 

 proaches within a few yards of the w&ll. On the 

 north side is a dry ditch hewn out of the rock, over 

 which there is a bridge opposite to the gate, near 

 the suburb. Within the fort are several handsome 

 mosques, but in the vicinity there are no buildings 

 deserving of notice excepting the tomb of Gholaum 

 Shah, the founder of the city, which stands on a hill 

 to the south of the fort. Although the ameers hold 

 out no encouragement to industry, yet the city con- 

 tains many skilful artisans, particularly armourers and 

 embroiderers on leather. This city yields a revenue 

 of 60,000 rupees. About two and a half miles to the 

 south of the city is a table land extending about two 

 miles, and about twelve miles to the southward is a 

 range of rocky hills called the Gungah hills. The 

 population of Hyderabad is about 15,000. 



Titta, supposed to be the ancient Pattala, is situated Tatta. 

 four miles to the west of the Indus, and by the course 

 of the river about 130 miles from the sea. Before the 

 building of Hyderabad it was regarded as the chief 

 city of Scinde. The town stands in a valley formed by 

 a range of low rocky hills, and which is inundated 

 during the rising of the Indus ; but being built on 

 an eminence, apparently formed by ancient ruins, it 

 has the appearance of an island when the rains are at 

 their height. The town is about four miles and a half 

 in circumference, and was formerly defended by a 

 strong brick wall now in ruins. The streets are nar- 

 row and dirty, and the houses, though irregularly con- 

 constructed of mud, chopped straw and wood, are su- 

 perior to the low huts commonly seen in the native 

 towns. The better sort of houses are built of brick 

 and lime. The old English factory, bought by the 

 company in 1751, is reckoned the best house in the 

 whole province. To the southward of it within the 

 town are the remains of the old fort, which is strongly 

 situated. The remains of the mosques and other 

 handsome edifices in this city are marks of its former 

 prosperity. 



The country about Tatta has a fine rich soil, watered 

 by canals from the Indus. About a mile to the west 

 of the town, on the hill of Muckalee, are a great num- 

 ber of graves and mausoleums, which exceed in num- 

 ber the abodes of the living. The tomb of Mirza 

 Eesau is a specimen of fine workmanship, and re- 

 remarkably magnificent. It consists of a large square 

 stone building, two storeys high, and sustained by 

 numerous columns, which, as well as the body of the 

 building, are covered with sentences from the Koran. 

 On the banks of the Indus there is another hill about 

 seven miles above Tatta, covered with white mosques 

 and Mahommedan tombs. Near one of the smallest 

 which the Mahommedans highly venerate, there is a 

 bone sticking upright in the earth, 18 feet long, one 

 foot thick and two broad. The distance of Tatta from 

 Bombay is 741 miles, and from Calcutta 1602. The 

 population of Tatta is about 1 8,000. 



Gugah is built at the foot of a hill, at the bottom of Gugah. 

 which runs a small creek. It is a place of very little 

 trade, but sheep and fowls can be procured at a mo- 

 derate rate. The hill on which Gugah stands is bound- 

 ed on the south and west by a dry nullah, on the bed 

 of which is a large tank of fine water. Gugah con- 

 tains 600 inhabitants, and is situated in East Long 

 68 7', and North Lat. 54 24'. 



* See our article CROTCHEY, Vol. VII. p. 371. 



